Thursday, July 31, 2014

Loved the following response from someone calling themselves "Mean Girl" to Bill O'Reilly's question about the right hating president Obama too much to get things done:

"Dear Bill,

Since you are one of the prime right wing "hate pundits," we find it very ironic, if not disingenuous for you to be asking "shouldn't we rise above it?" Like all petty tyrants and bullies (not to mention sociopaths), you have occasionally pivoted to this "soft side", showing us the face of "compassion conservatism (i.e. bullying with a smile). Are your ratings slipping or has the hate and bile on the right grown too much even for a full blown bully and sociopath such as you? Or is this just yet another one of your ploys to separate yourself from the pack of right wing hate pundits as a way for you to feel "special" about your hating?

In any event, you are our favorite right wing hate pundit. You always exhibit the exquisite brittleness and seething intolerance which renders your every utterance ironic.

Hey, at least he isn't blatantly race- baiting like his colleague, Megyn Kelly.

Ms. Kelly brought an African American guest on her show to talk about....wait for it....Mumia Abu-Jamal. Remember him? He is the convicted cop killer from right here in Philly who, like the New Black Panther Party, never fails to get a rise out of the melanin challenged, octogenarian set, which makes up the typical FOX VIEWS audience these days.

Kelly looked long and hard for a guest to come on her program and defend Mumia, and she found one.

"Megyn Kelly got into an intense debate tonight with Johanna Fernandez over the infamous case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Fernandez is a coordinator for the Campaign to Bring Mumia home, and Kelly was shocked that she actually found similarities between the convicted cop-killer and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And Kelly was outraged that there’s actually a proposal to get this taught in California schools.

Fernandez, to Kelly’s frustration, went over issues related to Mumia’s case and conviction. She said the media describes him with “coded language” like “thug” and “militant,” and claimed that there have been facts that haven’t come to light showing there might have been another shooter.

Kelly refuted that argument as having been disproved in court, and went back and forth with Fernandez until the latter said, “You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.”

Finally, a few words about the immigration debate and what to do with the children flooding into the country from Central America.

The right wing seems to have it all figured out: Send armed militia-men to the border to protect us all from those crazed children invading our country from South of the border.

"Militia groups are starting to line the border between Texas and Mexico to protect the region from an influx of refugee children, despite warnings from state lawmakers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stand down.

The militias have provided dozens of pictures to the media of their members “guarding” the border while carrying what appear to be semi-automatic rifles. The members in the photos are wearing tactical gear and military-style balaclavas that shield their identities (other photos show militia members with their faces blurred out).

Reportedly, 10 or more militias have descended on the border while child refugees from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala continue to make the long trek and crossing to the United States. So far, an estimated 50,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the border. [Source]

The truth is these guys are no different from another group that has plans for those pesky children if they dare cross our border illegally.

"I’m sure you’ve been waiting with bated breath to get the KKK’s thoughts on the crisis at the border with all those undocumented children showing up there. Well, as you can expect, it’s really horrible. Al Jazeera America learned this week that they’re proposing a “shoot to kill” policy to deal with all those people (which again, includes lots of children) at the border.

Reporter Robert Ray asked a KKK imperial wizard why they would ever do such a thing. He explained that the people coming to the border are “criminals” and will “continue breaking the law” when they come into the country, not to mention bringing third world diseases.

Ray suggested it might be heartless to propose killing young children because of that. And here’s what the guy actually said.

“If we can’t turn ‘em back, I think if we pop a couple of ‘em off and leave the corpses laying on the border, maybe they’ll see that we’re serious about stopping immigration.” [Source]

This type of madness will continue until poli-tricksters in Washington decide to get serious about passing sensible immigration laws. They need to start working together to do things like free up funding for immigration courts, and to pay for the manpower needed to conduct deportation hearings in a relatively expeditious manner.

The children are coming because life in Central America has become increasingly worse, and the people living in those countries believe that it's better to send their kids on a dangerous journey to a country thousands of miles away that might ultimately offer them a better life, than to have them die in poverty at home.

Maybe it's time we started paying more attention to our foreign policy as it relates to those countries. We spend billions of dollars on small countries a half way around the world to protect our interests when it comes to things such as oil. Why not invest in these poverty stricken countries close to home so that their children won't be clamoring to come here?

I think that would be the better way to go, because, at the end of the day, there are only so many children that the KKK and militia types can shoot.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

I posted an article Monday from Salon that was also featured in The Nation and various other left wing publications about civil rights groups selling out to major telecom corporations on the issue of "net neutrality". (Check out the comments after the article that is linked here.)

In my article, I wrote about my admiration for David Honig, who happens to lead one of the organizations that has been accused of "selling out". I got a few nasty e-mails which accused me of selling out as well and having blinders when it comes to this subject because of my admiration for the aforementioned Mr. Honig.

Today I exchanged e-mails with David, and needless to say he was not too pleased with the characterization of his group from by Lee Fang and others. He also gave me permission to publish what he wrote, so here goes:

"Field -

No one disagrees about the desirability of an open Internet; the disagreement is over methods – whether to regulate under Section 706 of the Communications Act, as the courts have suggested and as the Chairman of the FCC prefers, or whether to reclassify broadband as a public utility and regulate it as a common carrier under Title II of the Act.

MMTC and nearly 50 other national organizations have studied this issue for years and have concluded that it would be much safer to use Section 706, which would not restrict investment, innovation, or the potential for affirmative action. We think it would be irresponsible to take a competitive one sixth of the nation's economy and put into a box designed for monopoly regulation.

A handful of other organizations take the opposing view – which is their right. But rather than argue the merits, they have chosen to attack all of the nation's leading civil rights groups – saying we're "sellouts" because we don't agree with their preferred method of regulation. They have elevated net neutrality into a religious cult.

Who are they calling "sellouts"? The NAACP. National Urban League. Rainbow PUSH. LULAC. National Action Network. National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. MMTC. And dozens more!

"We know what's best for you," some of the "netroots" groups say. If we're not with them, we must be either too dense to understand these "complicated" telecom policy issues, or we must be on the take.

They're accusing virtually the entire civil rights movement of being stupid and corrupt.

It shouldn't be necessary to say this, but I will in case there's any doubt:

All of the major civil rights organizations receive support from companies that support Title II reclassification and those that oppose it.

The position we've taken on the open Internet is considerably more aggressive on consumer protection than the carriers' position. Most of us fight the carriers on a host of other issues.

Obviously, none of us sells policy support for contributions.

And all of do our own thinking.

The civil rights organizations are glad that some companies that agree with us – and some that disagree – are willing to support our work fighting job discrimination, police misconduct, redlining and voter suppression.

I have seen this sheer arrogance and paternalism before. Forty years ago, I worked with major civil rights organizations in my hometown (Rochester NY) who opposed wholesale "urban renewal" and preferred home and environmental improvement initiatives, like weatherization and new roofs that would enable Black homeowners to keep their older homes. Our opponents were ostensibly liberal organizations – mostly white Americans – who insisted that they knew better than the SCLC, Urban League and the antipoverty agency what was best for our members and constituents. The ostensibly liberal groups' solution to poverty? Plow it all under with bulldozers, and call it "slum clearance."

Eventually, or so they promised, new low income housing would be built, and those displaced by "urban renewal" would be able to move back to their old neighborhoods. They had their "experts" like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who thought poverty was primarily caused by the Black family rather than by years of segregation and discrimination.

Well, we lost. And you can guess what happened: gentrification, with very little new low income housing. Thousands of Black families displaced permanently. Communities destroyed. Urban renewal earned a new name: "Negro removal." And sure enough, it turned out that big developers had been behind the ostensibly liberal "slum clearance" groups all the time.

And here we go again. The paternalism and arrogance of 40 years ago resonates today with what some of the "netroots" groups are trying to achieve with their smear campaign directed at nearly all of the national civil rights organizations. They've deployed a host of media outlets to lie and lie repeatedly. But a lie repeated a thousand times is still a lie.

And even worse: these digital activists, with just one exception (Public Knowledge), have failed to join us civil rights groups in going after the real #1 threat to the digital divide: straight up redlining by one of the netroots' groups' largest sponsors. Deafening silence.

So NO, we will not be moved. We will not allow the nation's civil rights groups to be smeared and straight up lied about. Not this time. Not anymore.

Field you always speak truth to power. THANK YOU for giving me this opportunity to vent.

"(B)oth stated they felt in fear of their safety when the rifle was pointed in their direction," the booking sheet said.

Steinmetz was arrested and booked into Maricopa County jail on one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon. [Source]

The guy is a neuroscientist for crying out loud! He is high up on the intelligence chain when it comes to gun owners and he does some dumb crap like this. Typical.

Speaking of the NRA, Mother Jones published a fascinating article about one of their (The NRA's) most influential lawyers and the fact that he just might have gotten away with murder when he was a youngster.

Here is why: Bill believes that President Obama won two national elections because of the machines. No, not the voting machines, the machines, period.

“The voters go and they swallow all of this BS… As far as this country and how it runs, the reason Barack Obama is president for two terms is because of the machines. The machines have portrayed him in a way that isn’t true.”

Ahhm....ahhhm....I am speechless.

If only those ATM machines and lawnmowers had voted for Mitt Romney. Maybe for the next presidential election we can have an independent machine moderate the debates.

The irony is, of course, that Mr. O'Reilly is on one of those machines every night spreading this kind of crap.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Right now there is an incredible conference going on down in D.C. It is being led by a man who has devoted his life to making sure that underserved people and people of color have open and free access to the Internet, access to capital, and a voice in the shaping of the telecom industry.

I usually try to go every year, and I will try to make it down tomorrow if my schedule permits.

Anyway, thanks to my relationship with David Honig over the past few years, I have become more familiar with how the FCC works and with all the lobbying and "inside baseball" that goes on as it relates to this particular industry.

It is because of David's influence and connections that I have managed to meet some powerful people in the industry, as well as some brilliant and forward thinking entrepreneurs who are trying to make their mark.

Having said that, I wonder how David and the folks at MMTC will react to the following story? (h/t Dartanyan)

"Last Friday, just before the Federal Communication Commission closed its comment period for its upcoming rule on “network neutrality,” a massive coalition of Asian, Latino and Black civil rights group filed letters arguing that regulators should lay off of Internet Service Providers regarding Title II reclassification and accept FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s original plan. In other words, something close to half of the entire civil rights establishment just sold out the Internet.

The civil rights group letters argue that Title II reclassification of broadband services as a public utility — the only path forward for real net neutrality after a federal court ruling in January — would somehow “harm communities of color.” The groups wrote to the FCC to tell them that “we do not believe that the door to Title II should be opened.” Simply put, these groups, many of which claim to carry the mantle of Martin Luther King Jr., are saying that Comcast and Verizon should be able to create Internet slow lanes and fast lanes, and such a change would magically improve the lives of non-white Americans.

The filings reveal a who’s who of civil rights groups willing to shill on behalf of the telecom industry. One filing lists prominent civil rights groups NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Urban League, the National Council on Black Civil Participation and the National Action Network. The other features the Council of Korean Americans, the Japanese American Citizens League, the National Black Farmers Association, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, the National Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce, the Latino Coalition, and many more.

Of course, the groups listed on these filings do not speak for all communities of color on telecom policy, and there are civil rights groups out there that actually support net neutrality, including Color of Change and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Joseph Torres with Free Press told VICE that communities of color believe a free and open Internet is essential in the digital age, especially when most non-whites do not own radio stations, broadcast outlets or other forms of mass media. “Protecting real net neutrality is critical for people of color because an open Internet gives us the opportunity to speak for ourselves without having to ask corporate gatekeepers for permission,” Torres says.

A number of K Street consultants have helped make this epic sell-out possible.The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) coordinated many of the participants in the anti-net neutrality filings sent to the FCC last week. Last year, the Center for Public Integrity published an investigation of MMTC, showing that the group has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from Verizon, Comcast, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, and other telecom sources while reliably peddling the pro-telecom industry positions. For instance, the group attacked the Obama administration’s first attempt at net neutrality, while celebrating the proposed (and eventually successful) merger between Comcast and NBC.

Martin Chavez, the former Mayor of Albuquerque, now works with a group called the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP) to corral Latino civil rights groups into opposing net neutrality. Last month, Chavez hosted a net neutrality event on Capitol Hill to call on legislators to oppose Title II reclassification. As TIME recently reported, Chavez is on staff with one of Verizon’s lobbying firms, the Ibarra Strategy Group.

“HTTP is nothing more than an industry front-group that is at best misinformed and at worst intentionally distorting facts as it actively opposes efforts to better serve the communications needs of Latinos,” says Alex Nogales of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which strongly supports net neutrality. His group has filed its own letter to the FCC.

Still, telecom cash has become a vital source of funding for cash-starved nonprofits. OCA, the Asian American civil rights nonprofit formerly known as the Organization of Chinese Americans, counts Comcast as a major donor and sponsor for its events and galas. Not only did OCA go on to sign the anti-net neutrality letter last Friday, the group wrote a similar filing to the FCC in 2010, claiming absurdly that Asian American entrepreneurs would benefit from having ISPs able to discriminate based on content. Similarly, League of United Latin American Citizens, better known simply as LULAC, has been a dependable ally of the telecom industry while partnering with Comcast for a $5 million civic engagement campaign. Here’s a picture of LULAC proudly accepting a jumbo-sized check from AT&T.

As VICE first reported, telecoms are desperate for third party approval, and have even resorted to fabricating community support for their anti-net neutrality lobbying campaign.

Perhaps the bigger picture here is how so many of the old civil rights establishment have become comfortable with trading endorsements for cash. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and other telecom companies have donated, either directly or through a company foundation, to nearly every group listed on the anti-net neutrality letters filed last week. We saw a similar dynamic play out with Wal-Mart when the retailer handed out cash to civil rights groups in order to buy support for opening stores in urban areas." [More]

If I didn't know David and how committed he is to civil rights, it would be easier for me to buy into the author's premise that his organization is selling out along with the old civil rights establishment. But I cannot, because I understand that it is far more nuanced than that. Or maybe my judgment when it comes to this issue is clouded by my admiration for this particular individual.This is all similar to the situation that has manifested itself recently with the UNCF and the money received from the Koch Brothers. Dear UNCF, we are going to give you 25 million reasons why you should like us. It worked. The UNCF took the money, and their leader found a way to justify taking it.

I understand that for some there are no easy answers when it comes to this issue as well. Who can argue against young people of color having the funding to get an education? But then, considering where it's coming from, I could argue against taking it.

Still, I guess money talks, even if the men who are doing everything in their powers to limit access to the ballot box for people of color are behind the talking.

Of of course, as is the case above with "net neutrality", there were critics. And Harry Belafonte, bless his no quarter giving heart, had some very strong words about the gift:

"They are white supremacists . They are flooding our country with money..."

They are flooding the UNCF with money as well.

Sadly for some, though, they have plenty of it. And so does Comcast, Verizon, and AT & T.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

As one of my twitter followers eloquently stated: "I guess "aloof" is the new uppity."

Quite a few lawmakers (including some democrats) have been complaining about the president's hands off style. Apparently they don't believe that he is engaged enough with them or that he makes enough of an effort to reach out.... OK then.

I understand how Washington works, and that there is a certain amount of backslapping and bullshitting required to function in that town. I also understand that it has not been happening with this president.

Look, there should come a time when all parties involved put aside their egos and try to pass laws that work for the sake of the rest of us. That includes the president.

While I understand how President Obama can be reticent about sharing his personal feelings with the clowns in Washington, he is the president of these divided states, and he must make an effort to reach out and have those phony tender moments, no matter how much it pains him.

It has to be tough for him, because I am quite sure he knows that there are quite a few lawmakers in Washington who cannot get over the fact that a black man is president and they are not. Every time they see that Negro stepping on Air Force One or stepping up to the podium with that Presidential Seal, they want to just die. (I see you Ted Cruz.)

This, no doubt, eats at him, and it will be interesting to see if this is mentioned in his post- presidency memoir that is sure to come. He can never be comfortable with them (and vice versa), but he has to learn to play pretend. He is a politician. He has that skill.

Of course it was never going to be easy to be the first black president, because there was always going to be so much more than just governing and being presidential at play. Folks wanted to think that we were a "post-racial" country after 2008, but the truth is, only a certain segment of the population bought into the "post- racial" meme. It was easier said than done.

"Several Democrats said Obama must contend with GOP animosity, but so did former President Bill Clinton, who was undeterred through two terms.

Obama held a few dinners with Senate Republicans last year, discussing budgets, entitlements and immigration over steak and coconut sorbet. Hopes for keeping a constructive conversation going have faded more than a year after the last dinner and several participants have had little contact with Obama since."

Bill Clinton might have been the "first black president" in Toni Morrison's eyes, but the reality is that he was not. Had he been, I am not sure that he would have been as "undeterred through two terms". He would have faced a different kind of "animosity".

Still, with only two years left, Mr. Obama might want to consider getting out some more "coconut sorbet".

Saturday, July 26, 2014

"I'm tired of magazines Sayin' flat butts are the thing Take the average black man and ask him that She gotta pack much back" ~Sir Mix A Lot~

OK, so the regular Saturday caption post will have to wait until next week, because a situation arose with über rapper, Nicki Minaj, that has forced me to turn my attention to her....ahem ahem, considerable assets.

And please spare me "The Fallacy of Relative Privation" bull s***. I know that there are more serious things going on in the world, but right now, at this moment in time, I choose to post about Ms. Minaj.

If you have an issue with that I am sure that there are lots of wonderful bloggers out there who would welcome you with open arms to their site.

Anywhoo, I have a friend who is a very accomplished photographer, (shout out to Jerry G) and he takes pictures of models all over the world. He is the one who I first heard with the phrase, "ass to waist ratio". It sounds crude, but there is a point to his analysis. He happens to be a person of color and he knows of what he speaks: Men of color tend to prefer that particular section of the female anatomy.

Back in the day when I used to hang out in all the wrong places, my white friends (yes, I actually have some) would say to me: "Wayne, you brothers start looking at women from their toes and you work your way up; us white guys, on the other hand, look at them from the top down." His point was, as he later explained it to me, was that white guys were into the female breast and brothers were into the derriere.

This, of course, was pre Mrs. Kanye West (blame it on Ray- J), now there is a whole new generation of white boys who worship the booty as well.

Still, poor Nicki Minaj had to take to instagram to hit back at her critics for taking issue with her...ahem ahem, spread for Anaconda Magazine. I must say that Nicki did a great job of exposing the double standards that exists when it comes to how some of us treat beauty.

Minaj showed the exact same poses by white waif-like models for Sports Illustrated Magazine, and we all know that they did not catch any flack for strutting their stuff for the world to see. So I can't blame Minaj for being pissed at the double standard.

Personally, I happen to like the young lady. Except for a few slips, I think she is a good business woman who has pushed all the right buttons in her career so far. She is a bit raunchy for my taste, but she is not marketing her music to "old- head" lawyers.

As for how she looks....well I happen to be a black man soooo..... But hey, I am not going to knock you if you like Kate Upton. To each his (or her) own. Just don't push your standard of beauty on me and we will be cool.

Friday, July 25, 2014

It's the case of the porcelain dolls being left in front of homes with children who looked similar to the dolls.

This got so serious that it was all over the national news. The families were "spooked" , local law enforcement was in full investigative mode, and white people all over the country were worrying about the horror of having dolls left in front of their homes. (Meanwhile, in the real world.)

First of all, porcelain dolls are pretty expensive. I am guessing that if someone just left an expensive porcelain doll at a black person's front door, the first thing they would do is fins an appraiser or the pawn shop. White folks, on the other hand, call the police. "Officer, there is a strange looking doll at my door".....Let me stop.

Anyway, I am glad to report that the mystery of the dolls has been solved. So now the national news media can start focusing on some other news. You know, like the stuff going on in the Middle East and Eastern Ukraine.

The poor woman who was responsible for just trying to be a nice neighbor is now embarrassed and distraught over the entire episode.

"The woman, who attended church with most of the girls' families, said she did not mean to scare anyone, he said.

"She felt like some of the girls would enjoy the dolls," Hallock said.

She has daughters of her own who are too old to play with dolls, he said.The woman said she wanted the dolls to resemble the children who received them and matched their hair and eye color, Hallock said.

After delivering a few of the dolls, the woman noticed on social media that some families were frightened, he said. She stopped leaving the dolls when some parents called for a criminal investigation." [Source]

Poor thing.

"She felt really embarrassed..."

No charges were filed, and the sheriff's department has closed its investigation, chalking it up to an act of good will gone wrong..."

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The NFL is a trip. It's not enough that they don't have the guts to try and force that owner down in D.C. to change the name of his team. But they just gave one of their players a suspension of two games for beating his wife. (Let me repeat that: TWO GAMES!)

Keep in mind that this is the same league that just suspended one of their players for a year for smoking the good collie weed.

Now I don't know what happened in the elevator that night, but I do know that Mrs. Rice was unconscious when the elevator door flew open. We also know that both parties admitted that they were in a fight in the elevator, and that blows were thrown.

This is not a good look for the NFL; it is a league already suffering from image problems. The clueless Commissioner and his minions should have thought long and hard before handing out a punishment of just two games for Mr. Ray Rice.

Victims of domestic violence do not represent the typical NFL fan, but they all have families and friends, and the NFL needs to think about that the next time they attempt to punish one of their own.

Finally, shout out to Rashid Polo for exposing what most of you reading this who happen to be people of color and who visit high-end stores already know: Being shaded while shopping is real.

"Polo said he decided to record his experience of going shopping after he realized he was repeatedly being trailed by workers.

"It happened again ... this time I'm not even mad ... I'm used to it now," he said"[See video]

Rashid, you should never get "used to it". But hey, at least you are trying to expose it.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

As the dog days of summer drag out, it seems like the world is just going to hell in a hand basket. (What does that phrase even mean?) There are wars and conflicts everywhere, and hatred runs deep among people of different races, religions, and cultures.

The institutions that we rely on to do the right thing has failed us, and politicians from both political parties here in America are doing a miserable job of governing the republic.

Things have gotten so bad here that just performing poorly in the sack can get you hurt.

"A Michigan woman who admitted to police she shot her male lover due to his poor performance in bed has been granted bond.

Sadie Bell, 58, was allegedly having a 15-year affair with Edward Lee at the time of the January 2013 incident.

Bell reportedly told police “she knew he was having an affair because he wasn’t producing enough ejaculate.

Following the shooting, Bell was convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and was sentenced to 20 months to 10 years for the assault, in addition to two years for a gun charge.

She was recently granted bond set at $10,000 by an Oakland County court after a motion was filed pending her appeal."

Lord have mercy!I need some of you dudes to stop laughing. You know damn good and well that some of you could have been shot to death a long time ago.
You are just lucky that there are not more Sadie Bells out there.

Finally, speaking of hate, I am still trying to figure out why right-wingers are so hateful and angry in this country.

Where did all this hate come from?

They hate so much that they would rather see non-English speaking people die than utilize 911 resources. They hate so much that they work themselves up into a frenzy when asked to show compassion for little children. They hate so much that they brandish rifles openly at the site where one of America's beloved presidents was assassinated.

Sadly, this type of hatred and ignorance leads to rants like this:

"Appearing on Tea Party News Network broadcast earlier this month, the head of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC asserted that undocumented immigrants are more dangerous than “anything that Al Qaeda could blow up, short of a nuclear detonation,” according to Right Wing Watch.

William Gheen, who recently urged followers to mail used underwear to undocumented immigrants, President Barack Obama, and House Speaker John Boehner, told host Larry Altman the influx on immigrants are “a type of weapon from which the American people can never recover.”

Asked by Altman how many “illegal aliens” crossing the border might be “affiliated” with Al Qaeda, Gheen went off on a rant, including immigrants from China.

“Well, what the illegals that are coming — and especially the ones that are coming from China — are going to do to America are much more powerful and lasting impacts than anything that Al Qaeda could blow up, short of a nuclear detonation, ” Gheen replied.

Gheen was particularly fearful that the immigrants would fill up American schools, leaving American students — some from families that have been in the United States for 300 years – unable to “self-actualize.”

“How do you put a price tag on a family, let’s say that’s been in the United States for 300 years, and four or five different members of that family have gone off to World War II and Korea and maybe World War I to fight for the American way of life, and then finally they get to their grandson that’s alive in the year 2020 who doesn’t get to go to the college of his choice because invaders have been brought in the country and put in those seats ahead of him, ” he explained. “That child’s life, that negatively impacts that child’s ability to self-actualize, to be all they can be, impacted because the future has been stolen by this usurpation, this treason, this treachery from the highest levels of our own government right here in the United States of America. ”

Gheen predicted dire consequences –including gun confiscation – for the “existing stock of Americans,” if too many immigrants are allowed to enter the country,

“Once they get enough people in here to get the boat really sinking, and then they get the borders destroyed and they start taking up all the guns and we’ve got wave after wave of future illegal immigrants pouring in and pouring in and pouring in, the existing stock of Americans are going to be so politically and economically buried under this wave, and it’s a weapon from which we can never recover,” he explained."

I think I would rather be "buried under this wave" than to be above ground with you, sir. All that hate is not healthy.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

So are the Obamas really purchasing a crib in SoCal? The one that is rumored to be in the Obama's sights is worth over four million dollars. Nice. Man the haters are really going to hate if this is true. I can hear them now: "That Obama fellow has a lot of nerve! He made all that money on our backs."

"The hilltop estate in the gated Rancho Mirage community of Thunderbird Heights has been on the market for about a year. Several real estate agents, speaking anonymously, said they heard secondhand that the president was looking to buy the 1993 remodeled home with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

The Los Angeles Times, in a story published online Monday, reports the White House said rumors are not true."

Ok O, we will see. But you know, if this story turns out to be true, your political enemies will have one more reason to call you a liar.

Speaking of political enemies, all of a sudden that GOP sweep in the mid-terms is not looking like such a sure thing after all. I personally still believe that it's going to happen, because, quite frankly, there is no passion from the left right now. But according to the New York Times it's not a lock.

"Republicans entered this election cycle with high hopes. President Obama’s approval ratings had sunk into the low 40s, and the rollout of the Affordable Care Act had been an unmitigated disaster. In an off-year election, Democrats weren’t expected to fully mobilize the young and diverse coalition that has given them an advantage in presidential elections. Off-years are also when a president’s party typically suffers significant losses.

This year seemed poised to turn into another so-called wave election, like in 2006 or 2010, when a rising tide of dissatisfaction with the incumbent party swept the opposition into power. Given a favorable midterm map, with so many Democratic Senate seats in play, some analysts suggested that Republicans could win a dozen of them, perhaps even picking up seats in states like Virginia, New Hampshire and Oregon.

The anti-Democratic wave might still arrive. But with three and a half months to go until November’s elections, the promised Republican momentum has yet to materialize.

The race for the Senate, at least right now, is stable. There aren’t many polls asking whether voters would prefer Democrats or Republicans to control Congress, but the Democrats appear to maintain a slight edge among registered voters. Democratic incumbents in red Republican states, who would be all but doomed in a Republican wave, appear doggedly competitive in places where Mitt Romney won by as much as 24 points in 2012.

But as July turns to August, the G.O.P. is now on the clock. If there is to be a wave this November, the signs of a shift toward the G.O.P. ought to start to show up, somewhere, soon. Every day that goes by without a shift toward the G.O.P. increases the odds that there will not be a wave at all.

How could the Democrats dodge a wave, given the president’s weak ratings and the long history of the president’s party losing in midterms?

Part of it might come from the unpopularity of the Republican Party. The G.O.P. is less popular today than it was in 2010, when G.O.P. favorability ratings increased and Democratic ratings faltered in advance of the midterms. Mr. Obama’s approval ratings might also be deceptive: They’re mainly low because of minimal support from Republican leaners, not because Mr. Obama has lost an unusual amount of ground among his own supporters.

Another part might be the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which has faded from the forefront of the news. Whatever the public’s view of the law, it is clear that it will not be as potent an issue as Republicans hoped it would be. Similarly, the economy and the deficit are both in a better place than they were in 2010. [Source]

It's an interesting analysis. But it forgets one important thing: Haters gonna hate.

The same could not be said for Rick Santorum or Blanche Lincoln in 2006 or 2010. The light-blue Democratic states and purple presidential battleground states, like Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire, all seem to be heading toward tight races or Democratic wins, as one would expect in a fairly neutral year.

The race could break toward the Republicans over the next few months. There’s reason to think it will: The president’s approval ratings and the long history of the president’s party losing in midterm elections are consistent with that possibility.

There’s even precedent for the race to break over the last few months. In 2006, the full advantage for the Democrats didn’t become clear until October, after the Mark Foley scandal, and in 2008, they didn’t take off until mid-September, after the financial crisis. In 2010, the Republicans didn’t begin to gain a decisive edge on the generic ballot or in previously competitive races, like in Ohio and Wisconsin, until August.

But as July turns to August, the G.O.P. is now on the clock. If there is to be a wave this November, the signs of a shift toward the G.O.P. ought to start to show up, somewhere, soon. Every day that goes by without a shift toward the G.O.P. increases the odds that there will not be a wave at all.

How could the Democrats dodge a wave, given the president’s weak ratings and the long history of the president’s party losing in midterms?

Part of it might come from the unpopularity of the Republican Party. The G.O.P. is less popular today than it was in 2010, when G.O.P. favorability ratings increased and Democratic ratings faltered in advance of the midterms. Mr. Obama’s approval ratings might also be deceptive: They’re mainly low because of minimal support from Republican leaners, not because Mr. Obama has lost an unusual amount of ground among his own supporters.

Another part might be the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which has faded from the forefront of the news. Whatever the public’s view of the law, it is clear that it will not be as potent an issue as Republicans hoped it would be. Similarly, the economy and the deficit are both in a better place than they were in 2010.

The Republicans will have a good chance of picking up the Senate without an anti-Democratic wave. There are so many Democratic-held seats up for grabs in red and purple states this year that the G.O.P. could take the Senate under neutral conditions. Candidates like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina, for instance, won by modest margins in 2008, even though it was an excellent year for Democrats and even though they were bolstered by huge black turnout.

But if a wave doesn’t materialize, and if Republicans don’t post victories in Democratic-tilting states like Iowa or Colorado, it will be hard to consider 2014 a great year for Republicans. That will be true even if they take the Senate by taking advantage of a favorable map. The Republicans don’t need more evidence of their ability to win with low Democratic turnout in states like Louisiana and Alaska heading into 2016. Fortunately for the G.O.P., there are still more than three months to go.

Monday, July 21, 2014

The warden of one of America's largest and most notorious prisons is an evil man.

His name isBurl Cain, and he is no doubt a fan of FOX VIEWS and Megyn Kelly. You see, like Megyn Kelly, Mr. Cain believes that the Black Panther Party is still a threat to white security here in America.

"Kenny “Zulu” Whitmore has spent 35 years in what officials call closed cell restriction since being sentenced to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for second-degree murder in 1977. Whitmore, who has been in solitary for the last 28 consecutive years, reportedly attributes his vision damage, hypertension and other problems to the confinement.

Angola Warden Burl Cain, who has been running the prison for the past two decades, told students at The Medill Justice Project that he was thinking about allowing Whitmore to return to the general population.

But Cain argued that Whitmore's relationship with the Black Panther Party could continue to make him a threat to prison security.

“The Black Panther Party advocates violence and racism—I’m not going to let anybody walk around advocating violence and racism,” he said. ( I wonder how many Klansmen and white supremacists he kept in solitary for 25 years.)

“We will get him out,” Cain predicted. “We’d rather him out. I need his cell. I’ve got some young people, predators, that need to be in that cell. When I can conclude he’s not going to cause me the blues, then he can come out of the cell.”

"The only way to make a prison safer is the Lord Almighty," Cain insisted.

A Bible verse on a tablet outside the prison quotes Philippians 3:13, and a wall inside Camp D reads, "Jesus is Lord."

"In what other prison would you see that?" the Warden asked.

"If I can get the population to become moral, then we're all safer, and then we then have an environment of rehabilitation," he told The Medill Justice Project. "It's real simple that moral people don't rape, pilfer and steal. It's the immoral people who commit the crime."

For his part, Whitmore has maintained that he was being held in solitary confinement as a "political prisoner" because of his ties to the Black Panther Party. [Source]

THIRTY FIVE YEARS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT?! I am not sure there is such a place, but if there is, there is a special place in hell for people like Burl Cain.

The "Lord Almighty" that he loves so much is no doubt looking down on him and thinking that he is not exactly the type of person who he wants singing his praises here on earth.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

"I keep hearing about people dying and the violence that's going on. I feel like it's my responsibility, and our responsibility, to the city," ~Common~

Good for Common, but he is a rapper, not a policy maker in the city of Chicago.

It is not his job to try and stop the violence that's plaguing that city. Twenty five to thirty shootings in a weekend is typical. This past weekend forty (yes forty) people were shot (including an 11 year old girl)and there seems to be no end in sight. The place makes Killadelphia look like Mayberry R.F.D. for crying out loud!

I appreciate that Common is going to drop an album that speaks to the problem, but again, where are the leaders of that city?

Rahm Emanuel and his minions should be making cutting down on gun violence in their city the number one priority, and they should be focusing on it like a laser. Nothing should take priority over this scourge that is engulfing a once proud city.

Emanuel claims that he is working on the problem, and that they have done all the usual things: Assign more police officers in the summer months, create more alternative programs for young people to get involved with, and asking community and church leaders to get involved. Good luck with all of that.

These kids still won't have jobs, most of them will still be coming from broken and dysfunctional homes, and they will still think that being strapped is the best status symbol that they can have.

The more I think about it, maybe Common is better suited to try and fix the problem than the same old same old from the usual suspects.

I see that Eric Holder and the Justice Department is getting involved. (Sorry Rahm, what you are doing isn't working.)

“The Department of Justice will continue to do everything in its power to help the city of Chicago combat gun violence,” Holder said in a statement announcing the deployment of the agents. “These new agents are a sign of the federal government’s ongoing commitment to helping local leaders ensure Chicago’s streets are safe.”

“These new agents are a sign of the federal government’s ongoing commitment to helping local leaders ensure Chicago’s streets are safe.”Attorney General Eric Holder Despite an overall dip in crime from last year, bloodshed in many of the city’s poorest neighborhoods continues to be relentless. While murders are down 6% from last year, shootings are up 5%, concentrated in just a handful of communities mostly on the city’s west and south sides, according to police. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has said that getting control of shooting incidents is critical to the department’s efforts. McCarthy told msnbc earlier this year that a new surge of officers in the most gun-weary neighborhoods and bolstered intelligence and community relations were showing signs of success in the department’s efforts to slow the bloodletting." [Source]Mr. McCarthy, forty people shot does not seem like such a great "success" to me. "Lyrics are like liquor for the fallen soldiers From the bounce to the ounce, its all our culture Everyday we hustling, tryna get them custom rims Law we ain't trusting them, thick broads we lust in them Sick and tired of bunchin it, I look on the bus at them When I see them struggling, I think how I'm touching them The People"

Common, I sure hope that you can "touch them, because right now, no one else is even coming close.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Friday, July 18, 2014

Well this didn't take long. The bodies of those who tragically lost their lives in that Malaysian Air crash in Eastern Ukraine have not been removed from the fields that the poor souls perished in, and already the political vultures are out foaming at the mouth and gnashing their teeth.

They are blaming Barack Obama for this tragedy (not Vladimir Putin) because this is what having a serious case of derangement syndrome can do to you.

From Allen West, to John McCain, they were fighting each other to get in front of a microphone and a camera to take their shots.

"It’s just been cowardly, it’s a cowardly administration that failed to give the Ukrainians weapons with which to defend themselves,” McCain said.

The former Republican opponent to Obama’s 2008 campaign said these comments after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed into Ukraine, causing the deaths of nearly 300 people. But while rumors surface that Russian separatists were responsible for shooting down the commercial jet, McCain is taking aim at the president.

“I don’t understand this president,” McCain said Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “The crisis on the border and he did the fundraisers, the fundraisers in New York while there are major major conflicts, not to mention the loss of American lives reported … I do not understand it.”

He added, “This is what we used to call in the military AWOL.”

McCain suggested that if reports prove that Russia was behind the attacks, the United States should “impose the harshest possible sanctions on Vladimir Putin and Russia.” [Source]

They were in rare form.

Forgetting, of course, that their hero, Ronald Reagan, took four days to respond to a similar civilian plane being shot down by the Russians. For the record, Barack Obama took twenty four hours. Can you imagine if Barack Obama had taken four days to respond to this tragedy?

So Reagan didn't want to leave his ranch and Barack Obama doesn't want to cut his fundraisers short.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER:"What is the president's reaction? You said what matters is not where he is. He's had no reaction. He's had no reaction to anything that I can tell in the last six months. Look, it isn't as if we're going to go to war with Russia, but we've denied Ukraine lethal weaponry on the grounds that we don't want to escalate the conflict. The rebels and the Russians are killing Ukrainians in large numbers, by shooting them out of the sky. The least the president could do is make a damned decision for once in his life and announce that we are now going to supply lethal weapons to assist the Ukrainians to defend themselves and to complete the offensive that is now going on in Eastern Ukraine to actually destroy the rebel insurgents."

Hmmm, "lethal weapons to assist Ukrainians". Why? So that they can use those "lethal weapons" to achieve their own agenda when they see fit? I don't think so.

One of the truly sad aspects of this tragedy is that some really good and influential people who are actually contributing to humanity lost their lives. The irony is, of course, that the people who contribute nothing and who do more to destroy society by their actions can only offer more vacuous and meaningless commentary while the gown ups seek solutions.

Finally, I have to chase the big R before I sign off tonight.

"Florida man Thomas Thorpe, charged with attempted first-degree murder, appeared in court today to enter in a not guilty plea. But most memorable from his court appearance was Thorpe ranting about the black public defender next to him and how he didn’t want a “Negro standing next to me.”

Thorpe allegedly stabbed someone at a bus stop. In court today, he said, “I pleaded not guilty and I don’t want this Negro standing next to me. I don’t want a Negro standing next to me.”

And it wasn’t just that public defender he objected to, Thorpe refused any defense attorney whatsoever. The judge asked, “Do you understand what an attorney is and what they do?” Thorpe replied, “Yes, they screwed us.” [Source]

You gotta love racists.

Good luck Mr. Thorpe, hopefully you will get the white lawyer you desire. For your sake, though, I just hope that the facts and the evidence are on your side. If not, that "Negro" lawyer will be the least of your problems.

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FIELD NEGRO OF THE DAY.

(Magic) MAKING 100 MILLION DOLLARS AVAILABLE IN LOANS TO SMALL MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES DURING THIS CRISIS IS FNB.

"Half a century after Little Rock, the Montgomery bus boycott and the tumultuous dawn of the modern civil rights era, the new face of the movement is Facebook, MySpace and some 150 black blogs united in an Internet alliance they call theAfroSpear.

Older, familiar leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, are under challenge by a younger generation of bloggers known by such provocative screen names as Field Negro, thefreeslaveand African American Political Pundit. And many of the newest struggles are being waged online."~Howard Witt-The Chicago Tribune~

"I had no idea, for example, of the extent of the African-American blogging world out there and its collective powers of dissemination.But now, after reading thousands of anguished, thoughtful comments posted on these blogs reflecting on issues of persistent racial discrimination in the nation's schools and courtrooms, what's clear to me is that there's a new, "virtual" civil rights movement out there on the Internet that can reach more people in a few hours than all the protest marches, sit-ins and boycotts of the 1950s and 60s put together." ~Chicago Tribune Reporter, Howard Witt~